Three people released from hospital after N.B. carbon monoxide leak

SAINT JOHN, N.B. — A woman says her family no longer feels safe in their public housing unit in Saint John, N.B., after a carbon monoxide leak sent her daughter, sister and their caretaker to hospital in critical condition.

Jessica Sypher says the two girls and a family friend they call “papa” have been released from hospital after being airlifted to the Halifax facility to be treated for carbon monoxide poisoning.

Sypher says she and her mother came back home on Friday night to find the 53-year-old man who was watching her four-year-old daughter and 11-year-old sister struggling to breath while an alarm beeped in the background.

Unable to get inside, the 21-year-old woman says a neighbour helped kick down the door and they found the two girls unconscious as authorities arrived on the scene.

A platoon chief for the Saint John fire department has said about 30 people were evacuated from the complex and two other residents were sent to a local hospital for evaluation and later released.

Sypher says the girls have been “traumatized” by the incident, and feels the provincial officials who run the six-unit townhouse should be held responsible.

The leak is under investigation, and a New Brunswick government spokesperson says displaced residents have returned to the building and the boiler has been replaced.